Maico 490 on Pittsburgh c'list

[Coop]

If this is the wrong forum, I apologize. I saw this today and thought of some of you guys here:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/1750397312.html

1983 maico 490 best offer - $1 (Saxonburg)

Date: 2010-05-20, 11:01AM EDT
Reply to: sale-hfszu-1750397312@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

1983 maico 490 all original plus service manual. bike is dirty but she cleans up real nice and is a total power house.

Location: Saxonburg
   

[JETZcorp]

These things were crazy.  Six horsepower more than the fabled 1981/82 version, according to Super Hunky, and the first of the Maicos to have a conventional clutch and geared primary drive (which is good or bad, up to you.)  It was also the last of the "in bidness" Maicos, after the whole internal sabotage episode a couple of transmissions blew up like Mk.84 bombs and the company soon folded.  Sad story.

http://superhunky.com/articles/maicopt1.php

[riffraff]

Damn! such a deal    $1 wonder what's up with it 

[SachsGS]

In 83 Maico produced 4sp MX Spider 490's and 5sp Sand Spiders 490's for the offroad crowd. The 5sp's are rare and are highly desired by collectors. Wonder which one this is? 

[JETZcorp]

I was wondering that myself.  I read (in a magazine test from 1983, which is a dubious source because the guy that was sabotaging the company was seen schmoozing with some big execs from magazines which gave the '83 a bad review) that the four-speed had somewhat awkward ratios which made the awesome power less usable than the competition.  I have enough trouble dealing with only five speeds, myself, I would really hate having that kicked back to four, even if the thing had 200hp.  I want mah gears!

[opfermanmotors]

I have 2 83 490s and both are 4 speeds.  I am converting 1 to a 5 speed, possibly the other one as well. 

I don't race though, I've heard different things from other people but as far as the trails are concerned, the 4 speed just makes it hard to ride, all the gears are very tall.  1st gear does like 30 to 40, 2nd does like 50, 3rd does like 65 and 4th does like 75 to 80.  I put a 56 tooth sprocket on the rear to tone it down and it really didn't tone it down all that much.

The power though is there, on roads you can putt around in basically any gear without knowing it, has tons of power from the bottom but on a trail you basically have 1 gear.  After riding that bike one day I rode my friend's KTM 300 XC up the street.  My first thought was, WTF? how many gears does this thing have? 1000?  Have to shift so much to get up speed.

That's the thing that is a plus, if you want to drag race that 4 speed is much better than a 5 speed, especially if the 1st gear is low on the 5 speed.  That bike takes off and you can run through the gears very quick, even if another bike may be faster if the first gew gears are too low you'll get the drop on them.  Since I trail ride though I think a lower first gear would make it easier to ride. 

1983 Maico 490 Beast

[ford832]

Holy $%#@!!!! An old Maico for $1 ? That's wayyyyyyy too much

[ford832]

I was wondering that myself.  I read (in a magazine test from 1983, which is a dubious source because the guy that was sabotaging the company was seen schmoozing with some big execs from magazines which gave the '83 a bad review)

That guy gets around.If I remember correctly,that was the problem with the Edsel and Corvair as well.
Afaik,the saboteur that did Maico in was named Maico.  

[SachsGS]

I think the 83 Maico 490 is one of the "Gnarliest" looking motocrossers ever made!

As for the demise of the original Maico corporation, money can change people's ethics very quickly and in ways you wouldn't recognize. I've often wondered what could have been and what became of the people involved in the design of Maico motorcycles.

[JETZcorp]

He wasn't named Maico, he was named Maisch (Maico = Maisch + Company).  The sabotage came from one side of the Maisch family that was only allowed to own a minority share in the company because old Wilhelm Maisch was a member of the Nazi Party.  In an attempt to gain control of the company, they designed the rear suspension very badly on the first monoshock (1982) such that the shocks made like a pretzel if you did a jump.  Then, in '83, they deliberately ordered incomplete heat treating of certain key components (transmission gears, rear hubs, etc) which consequently started exploding.  People got pissed, "Maico-Breako" was being heard again for the first time in half a decade, and the lawsuits flowed.  The "Wilhelm" side achieved their goal of nuking the company's value, which would make it easy to pick up for an extremely low price (something like $100K).  Of course, it wasn't exactly a profitable thing to own at that point.

As part of the plan to destroy Maico, the brothers allegedly started a campaign via their friends in the press, and an onslaught of negative articles started appearing. Peter Maisch, the press relations expert, was seen constantly hanging around the Sudwest-Presse building in Tubingen right before the most destructive article came out, and was later seen at the race track, laughing and joking with the reporter who wrote the article.

http://superhunky.com/articles/maicopt2.php

[JohnN]

He wasn't named Maico, he was named Maisch (Maico = Maisch + Company).  The sabotage came from one side of the Maisch family that was only allowed to own a minority share in the company because old Wilhelm Maisch was a member of the Nazi Party.  In an attempt to gain control of the company, they designed the rear suspension very badly on the first monoshock (1982) such that the shocks made like a pretzel if you did a jump.  Then, in '83, they deliberately ordered incomplete heat treating of certain key components (transmission gears, rear hubs, etc) which consequently started exploding.  People got pissed, "Maico-Breako" was being heard again for the first time in half a decade, and the lawsuits flowed.  The "Wilhelm" side achieved their goal of nuking the company's value, which would make it easy to pick up for an extremely low price (something like $100K).  Of course, it wasn't exactly a profitable thing to own at that point.

As part of the plan to destroy Maico, the brothers allegedly started a campaign via their friends in the press, and an onslaught of negative articles started appearing. Peter Maisch, the press relations expert, was seen constantly hanging around the Sudwest-Presse building in Tubingen right before the most destructive article came out, and was later seen at the race track, laughing and joking with the reporter who wrote the article.

http://superhunky.com/articles/maicopt2.php

Just want to mention one thing about the above information, you have only heard from one side...

Sometimes things are not what they seem.

[JETZcorp]

Right, it's perfectly possible that there's a nice layer of BS in there, particularly in peoples' motives.  However, I understand there was documentation showing the orders not to heat-treat, and some Christmas-Party-Big-Talk about how there was going to be a change of hands soon.  Sounds like a pretty solid piece of journalism on the part of Super Chunk, but it's still journalism.

[opfermanmotors]

I tried to ask the grandson of Wilhelm in a round about way, but he wouldnt answer these types of questions.  Not sure if I heard from him since I made this video though, which pretty much follows SH's story.

Maico: Rise and Fall of a Legend (HD)

[opfermanmotors]

Actually, I remember I tried to ask some open ended questions that gave an opportunity for him to say that article was incorrect without ever mentioning it but like I said, he just avoided it as far as I could tell.

[opfermanmotors]

I think the 83 Maico 490 is one of the "Gnarliest" looking motocrossers ever made!

I agree, that's why I have 2.  Just got my 86 500 as well.  I like it, feels light and I like the looks of it.

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